City says Trump Tower evacuations to be ‘a common occurrence’

Yesterday afternoon, after a suspicious package was found in the building atrium, Trump Tower was evacuated along with the entire area between 50th and 59th Streets and Madison and 6th Avenues. Ultimately, it was found to be a bag of children’s toys left behind, but in a tweet after the incident, de Blasio spokesman Eric Phillips said such evacuations at the Tower “will be a common occurrence.” According to the Daily News, Trump spokesman Dan Scavino sent out a thank you tweet, to which Phillips replied, “No problem. We’ll send you the bill.”

Phillips’ sarcastic remark comes after the city called on the federal government to provide $35 million for Donald Trump’s increased security for the 73 days from the November 8th election to the January 20th inauguration, but got an offer of only $7 million. According to an analysis by the NYPD, it costs $500,00 a day and requires 200 officers to secure Trump Tower and the surrounding area. Naturally, Scavino fired back, calling Phillips “an embarrassment.”

Though a bag of children’s toys may not seem like a big deal, all visitors to the Tower must go through security and have their belongings scanned, so an unattended package drew alarm. Both the NYPD bomb squad and the secret service attended to the package and ultimately deemed it to be safe.